Virtual globe
Encyclopedia
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
model or representation of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
or another world. A virtual globe provides the user with the ability to freely move around in the virtual environment by changing the viewing angle and position. Compared to a conventional globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
, virtual globes have the additional capability of representing many different views on the surface of the Earth. These views may be of geographical features, man-made features such as roads and buildings, or abstract representations of demographic quantities such as population.
On November 20, 1997, Microsoft released a popular offline virtual globe in the form of Encarta
Encarta
Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation from 1993 to 2009. , the complete English version, Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive contents, timelines, maps and...
Virtual Globe 98, followed by Cosmi
Cosmi Corporation
Cosmi Corporation , is a United States computer software company.Cosmi Corporation was established in 1982. It published several titles for many Personal Computer systems such as the Commodore 64 and IBM PC....
's 3D World Atlas
3D World Atlas
3D World Atlas is a virtual globe program developed by the Cosmi Corporation. At Version 2.1, it is one of the leading atlas programs, along with other 3D atlas exploring programs such as Google Earth .-History:...
in 1999. The first widely publicized online virtual globes were NASA World Wind
NASA World Wind
World Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009...
(released in mid-2004) and Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
(mid-2005).
Types
Virtual globes may be used for study or navigation (by connecting to a GPSGlobal Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
device) and their design varies considerably according to their purpose. Those wishing to portray a visually accurate representation of the Earth often use satellite image servers and are capable not only of rotation but also zooming and sometimes horizon tilting. Very often such virtual globes aim to provide as true a representation of the world as is possible with worldwide coverage up to a very detailed level. When this is the case the interface often has the option of providing simplified graphical overlays to highlight man-made features since these are not necessarily obvious from a photographic aerial view. The other issue raised by such detail available is that of security with some governments having raised concerns about the ease of access to detailed views of sensitive locations such as airports and military bases.
Another type of virtual globe exists whose aim is not the accurate representation of the planet but instead a simplified graphical depiction. Most early computerized atlases were of this type and, while displaying less detail, these simplified interfaces are still widespread since they are faster to use because of the reduced graphics content and the speed with which the user can understand the display.
Online virtual globes
As more and more high-resolution satellite imagerySatellite imagery
Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites.- History :The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The U.S-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946 took one image every 1.5 seconds...
and aerial photography
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
become accessible for free, many of the latest online virtual globes are built to fetch and display these images. They include:
- NASA World WindNASA World WindWorld Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009...
, USGS topographic mapTopographic mapA topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, usually using contour lines in modern mapping, but historically using a variety of methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features...
s and several satellite and aerial image datasets, the first popular virtual globe along with Google Earth. World Wind is open-source softwareOpen-source softwareOpen-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
. - CitySurf GlobeCitySurf GlobeCitySurf Globe is a family of Geography 2.0 Geographical Information System software, developed by PiriReis Bilişim Teknolojileri, known as a new model in mapping servers and interaction with the final user....
, fast adaptation and transfer secured data due to special data storage structure, dynamic spatial data editing on 3D client monitor, data stored in Oracle SDO or PostGIS, flexible authorization models for different user groups (LDAP and Active Directory support) also excellent quality and fast 2D map rendering. - Bing Maps 3D interface runs inside Internet ExplorerInternet ExplorerWindows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
and Firefox, and uses NASA Blue Marble: Next Generation. - Worldwide TelescopeWorldWide TelescopeThe WorldWide Telescope is a computer program created by Microsoft that displays the astronomical sky as maps, the 3D Universe, visualised data sets and animations. It was announced at the TED Conference in Monterey, California in February 2008. Users are able to pan around outer space and zoom as...
features an Earth mode with emphasis on data import/export, time-series support and a powerful Tour authoring environment. - Google EarthGoogle EarthGoogle Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
, satellite & aerial photos dataset (including commercial DigitalGlobeDigitalGlobeDigitalGlobe, of Longmont, Colorado, USA, is a commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content, and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft...
images) with international road dataset, the first popular virtual globe along with NASA World Wind. - Marble, part of the KDEKDEKDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
, with data provided by OpenStreetMapOpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Two major driving forces behind the establishment and growth of OSM have been restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world and the advent of inexpensive portable GPS devices.The...
, as well as NASA Blue Marble: Next Generation and others. Marble is open-source softwareOpen-source softwareOpen-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
. - ArcGIS ExplorerArcGIS ExplorerArcGIS Explorer is a free 3D GIS viewer produced by Esri. It is a part of ArcGIS software suite. AGX can be used as a client for ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, ArcWeb Services and WMS. It supports many GIS file formats such as shapefile, GeoTIFF, MrSID, IMG and KML.Compare ArcExplorer.-External links:*...
a lightweight client for ArcGIS ServerArcGIS ServerArcGIS Server is the core server geographic information system software made by Esri. ArcGIS Server is used for creating and managing GIS Web services, applications, and data...
, supports WMSWMS-Technology and computing:*Warehouse management system, a component of the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse*Web Map Service, a specification which comprises a definition for Internet map servers...
and many other GIS file formatsGIS file formatsA GIS file format is a standard of encoding geographical information into a file. They are created mainly by government mapping agencies or by GIS software developers.Metadata often includes:...
. - EarthBrowserEarthBrowserEarthBrowser is a virtual globe software developed by Lunar software. It is available online as a flash application or be installed locally as an AIR application. It focuses mainly on visualising geophysical information such as weather, earthquakes, etc....
, a Adobe Flash/AIR-based virtual globe with real-time weather forecasts, earthquakes, volcanoes, and webcams. - Earth3DEarth3DEarth3D was developed as part of a diploma thesis of Dominique Andre Gunia atBraunschweig University of Technology to display a virtual globe of the earth. It was developed before Google bought Keyhole, Inc and changed their product into Google Earth. Earth3D downloads its data from a server while...
, a program that visualizes the Earth in a real-time 3D view. It uses data from NASA, USGS, the CIA and the city of Osnabrück. Earth3D is open-source softwareOpen-source softwareOpen-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
. - NORCNORC (web service)NORC is a street view website introduced in 2009 for Central and Eastern Europe. The site currently provides 360 degrees panoramas from various cities and locations in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia...
is a street view web service for Central and Eastern Europe. - MapJackMapJackMapJack is a map feature introduced in 2007 that is similar to Google Street View, but has less coverage than Google Street View though much better image quality. Its current headquarters is in Hong Kong, and is in the beta stages. The site currently provides these types of views of various...
is a map feature covering areas in Canada, France, Latvia, Macau, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. - BhuvanBhuvanBhuvan, , is a software application which allows users to explore a 3D representation of the surface of the Earth. The browser is specifically tailored to view India, offering the highest resolution in this region. A beta version was launched on 12 August 2009.- Overview :ISRO launched the beta...
is an India-specific virtual globe. - driveme.inDriveme.indriveme.in is a street view application that gives a drive through experience using a web based virtual car. driveme.in displays street level imagery that closely resembles the view that a person driving a real car would get...
is a street view application for India.
As well as the availability of satellite imagery, online public domain factual databases such as the CIA World Factbook
The World Factbook
The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official paper copy version is available from the National Technical Information Service and the Government Printing Office...
have been incorporated into virtual globes.
Technical info, data, and image sources
Although by default the World Wind download only comes with public domain imagery from the USGS and Landsat 7Landsat 7
Landsat 7, launched on April 15, 1999, is the latest satellite of the Landsat program. Landsat 7's primary goal is to refresh the global archive of satellite photos, providing up-to-date and cloud-free images. The Landsat Program is managed and operated by the USGS, and data from Landsat 7 is...
, Community members have made available high resolution imagery for New Zealand and New York, here and additional countries, as well as Microsoft's Virtual Earth data (for non-commercial purposes)
Google Earth, NASA World Wind and Norkart Virtual Globe save a cache of downloaded imagery to the user's hard disk, enabling them to be used offline to view previously viewed areas. However, Google Earth cannot be activated without logging into its server the first time it is used.
The Google Earth's cache size is limited to 2000 MB whereas World Wind has no limit on cache size. In Norkat Virtual Globe the disk cache can be set by the user.
In addition to downloaded images, NASA World Wind also comes with the complete 500 m Blue Marble imagery and global placenames including countries, capitals, counties, cities, towns and historical references which are available from install.
World Wind is also capable of displaying MODIS
MODIS
The Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA in 1999 on board the Terra Satellite, and in 2002 on board the Aqua satellite...
imagery from the JPL Aqua
Aqua (satellite)
Aqua is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the precipitation, evaporation, and cycling of water. It is the second major component of the Earth Observing System preceded by Terra and followed by Aura .The name "Aqua" comes from the Latin word...
and Terra
Terra (satellite)
Terra is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in a sun-synchronous orbit around the Earth. It is the flagship of the Earth Observing System...
satellites. An add-on allows for near-real-time MODIS imagery.
Google Earth and Virtual Earth 3D are both capable of displaying many more urban areas in high-resolution thanks to their private image sources. Both companies also hire chartered flights over major cities of the U.S. to take aerial images.
Marble (KDE)
Marble (KDE)
Marble is a virtual globe that allows the user to choose among the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars and other planets. It is free software under the terms of the GNU LGPL, developed by KDE and the free-software / open-source communities for use on personal computers running a Qt4-compatible operating...
is designed for use in lightweight environments without 3D hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration
In computing, Hardware acceleration is the use of computer hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the general-purpose CPU...
and is capable of not only being used as a standalone application, but also as a component in other applications, such as in a "World Clock" Plasma (KDE) and for geolocation in the photo management software digiKam
DigiKam
digiKam is an image organizer and editor using KDE Platform. It runs on most known desktop environments and window managers if the required libraries are installed. It supports all major image file formats, and can organize collections of photographs in directory-based albums, or dynamic albums by...
.
3D Weather Globe & Atlas comes with complete 1 km Blue Marble imagery, 40,000 locations database, countries and time zones overlays. Application requires Internet connection only for online features: satellite cloud cover and real-time weather and forecast data.
Worldwide Telescope
WorldWide Telescope
The WorldWide Telescope is a computer program created by Microsoft that displays the astronomical sky as maps, the 3D Universe, visualised data sets and animations. It was announced at the TED Conference in Monterey, California in February 2008. Users are able to pan around outer space and zoom as...
data support includes raster and vector types, the latter including up to 700,000 points in a single layer.
History
The use of virtual globe software was widely popularized by (and may have been first described in) Neal StephensonNeal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
's famous science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Snow Crash
Snow Crash
Snow Crash is Neal Stephenson's third novel, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's other novels it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics, and philosophy....
. In the metaverse
Metaverse
The Metaverse is our collective online shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet...
in Snow Crash there is a piece of software called Earth made by the Central Intelligence Corporation. The CIC uses their virtual globe as a user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
for keeping track of all their geospatial data, including maps, architectural plans, weather data, and data from real-time satellite surveillance.
Virtual globes (along with all hypermedia
Hypermedia
Hypermedia is a computer-based information retrieval system that enables a user to gain or provide access to texts, audio and video recordings, photographs and computer graphics related to a particular subject.Hypermedia is a term created by Ted Nelson....
and virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
software) are distant descendants of the Aspen Movie Map
Aspen Movie Map
The Aspen Movie Map was a revolutionary hypermedia system developed at MIT by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA.-Features:...
project, which pioneered the concept of using computers to simulate distant physical environments (though the Movie Map's scope was limited to the city of Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
).
Many of the functions of virtual globes were envisioned by Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
who in 1962 envisioned the creation of a Geoscope
Geoscope
-Introduction:The Geoscope was a proposal by Buckminster Fuller in 1962 to create a globe, which would be covered in colored lights so that it could function as a large spherical display...
which would be a giant globe connected by computers to various databases. This would be used as an educational tool to display large scale global patterns related to topics such as economics, geology, natural resource use, etc.
Comparison
Today's virtual globes can support various features:| Virtual Globe | Introduction year | OS - Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix | Program/data license | Multiple datasets | Guides | Overlays | Tools | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School, Restaurant, Hotel | Transport | Park | Street map | Satellite and aerial image | Weather map | Topographic map | Real-time traffic report | GPS-integration | Distance measure | Drawing tools | Movie maker | |||||
| Google Earth Google Earth Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite... |
2005 | |||||||||||||||
| NASA World Wind NASA World Wind World Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009... |
2004 | |||||||||||||||
| Bing Maps | 2006 | |||||||||||||||
| Marble (KDE) Marble (KDE) Marble is a virtual globe that allows the user to choose among the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars and other planets. It is free software under the terms of the GNU LGPL, developed by KDE and the free-software / open-source communities for use on personal computers running a Qt4-compatible operating... |
2006 | : OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Two major driving forces behind the establishment and growth of OSM have been restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world and the advent of inexpensive portable GPS devices.The... |
: Shows real-time cloud images | |||||||||||||
| Virtual Globe | Introduction year | OS - Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix | Program/data license | Multiple datasets | Guides | Overlays | Tools | |||||||||
| School, Restaurant, Hotel | Transport | Park | Street map | Satellite and aerial image | Weather map | Topographic map | Real-time traffic report | GPS-integration | Distance measure | Drawing tools | Movie maker | |||||
| Virtual Globe | 3D Modelling | Planetarium | Day/night views | Imagery of other planets | Telescope/ Sky mode | Simulators | Online community user input | Extensibility | Wikipedia integration | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D Graphics | Buildings | Terrain | Sea-floor | Flight Simulator | Sunlight Simulator | ||||||||
| Google Earth Google Earth Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite... |
|||||||||||||
| NASA World Wind NASA World Wind World Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009... |
|||||||||||||
| Bing Maps | |||||||||||||
| Marble (KDE) Marble (KDE) Marble is a virtual globe that allows the user to choose among the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars and other planets. It is free software under the terms of the GNU LGPL, developed by KDE and the free-software / open-source communities for use on personal computers running a Qt4-compatible operating... |
|||||||||||||
| Virtual Globe | 3D Modelling | Planetarium | Day/night views | Imagery of other planets | Telescope/ Sky mode | Simulators | Online community user input | Extensibility | Wikipedia integration | ||||
| 3D Graphics | Buildings | Terrain | Sea-floor | Flight Simulator | Sunlight Simulator | ||||||||
| Virtual Globe | languages supported | Hi-resolution data set areas | street-level address search areas | driving direction areas | business listing areas | hotel listing areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Earth Google Earth Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite... |
45 different languages, see the full list | : Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | : Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | : Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | : Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | : Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States |
| NASA World Wind NASA World Wind World Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009... |
English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
: United States, New Zealand (partially) | : Australia, Germany, France, Japan, United States, United Kingdom | |||
| Bing Maps | English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Australia, Germany | : United States, United Kingdom, Australia | : United States, United Kingdom, Australia | ||
| Marble (KDE) Marble (KDE) Marble is a virtual globe that allows the user to choose among the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars and other planets. It is free software under the terms of the GNU LGPL, developed by KDE and the free-software / open-source communities for use on personal computers running a Qt4-compatible operating... |
Translated as part of KDE KDE KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems... , which has 88 languages http://www.kde.org/whatiskde/i18n.php |
: via Openstreetmap OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Two major driving forces behind the establishment and growth of OSM have been restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world and the advent of inexpensive portable GPS devices.The... |
: Europe | |||
| Virtual Globe | language support | Hi-resolution data set areas | street-level address search areas | driving direction areas | business listing areas | hotel listing areas |
See also
- Google EarthGoogle EarthGoogle Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
- BhuvanBhuvanBhuvan, , is a software application which allows users to explore a 3D representation of the surface of the Earth. The browser is specifically tailored to view India, offering the highest resolution in this region. A beta version was launched on 12 August 2009.- Overview :ISRO launched the beta...
- GloNETGloNETGloNET is a virtual globe client–server system developed on Netcad 3D.The client has stereo support for effective display with relatively weak graphics subsystems and simple stereo shutter eyeglasses or with most advanced stereo workstations.The system's servers run on the NETGIS|Server platform...
- CitySurf GlobeCitySurf GlobeCitySurf Globe is a family of Geography 2.0 Geographical Information System software, developed by PiriReis Bilişim Teknolojileri, known as a new model in mapping servers and interaction with the final user....
- Bing Maps
- NASA World WindNASA World WindWorld Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009...
- Marble (KDE)Marble (KDE)Marble is a virtual globe that allows the user to choose among the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars and other planets. It is free software under the terms of the GNU LGPL, developed by KDE and the free-software / open-source communities for use on personal computers running a Qt4-compatible operating...
- CelestiaCelestiaCelestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction and at any time in history...
- Stellarium, similar to Celestia but confined on Earth's surface
- Orbiter (sim)
- TerragenTerragenTerragen is a scenery generator program for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X developed and published by Planetside Software. It can be used to create renderings and animations of landscapes.-History:...
- ArcGIS ExplorerArcGIS ExplorerArcGIS Explorer is a free 3D GIS viewer produced by Esri. It is a part of ArcGIS software suite. AGX can be used as a client for ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, ArcWeb Services and WMS. It supports many GIS file formats such as shapefile, GeoTIFF, MrSID, IMG and KML.Compare ArcExplorer.-External links:*...
- Digital EarthDigital EarthDigital Earth is the name given to a concept by former US vice president Al Gore in 1998, describing a virtual representation of the Earth that is spatially referenced and interconnected with the world’s digital knowledge archives.-Original Vision:...
- GeowebGeowebThe Geospatial Web or Geoweb is a relatively new term that implies the merging of geographical information with the abstract information that currently dominates the Internet...
- GeovisualizationGeovisualizationGeovisualization, short for Geographic Visualization, refers to a set of tools and techniques supporting geospatial data analysis through the use of interactive visualization....
- NORCNORC (web service)NORC is a street view website introduced in 2009 for Central and Eastern Europe. The site currently provides 360 degrees panoramas from various cities and locations in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia...
- MapJackMapJackMapJack is a map feature introduced in 2007 that is similar to Google Street View, but has less coverage than Google Street View though much better image quality. Its current headquarters is in Hong Kong, and is in the beta stages. The site currently provides these types of views of various...
External links
Misc.
- VirtualGlobes@Benneten - screenshots of many virtual globes
- Which virtual globe is right for you? - comparison of virtual globes